Cardiff Devils Confirmed Signings & Departures 2023/24

[Mooney#16]

I will give him his due from the interview. He doesn’t sugar coat it and fronts up to last year.

He knows it was poor so doesn’t really need to hear it again from me.

I would say his destiny is very much in his hands though and it us up to him to change people’s perception with hard work and a competitive attitude. I was livid at times with his defensive performance last year rather than offensive. If I’m honest I want to see him eating pucks from the point if he wants to demonstrate his will to do what it takes to win. Couldn’t care less about offence. The first time he lays down and blocks a shot he’ll win me around as there is nothing more telling than putting body on the line for the team.

 

[BrianParker]

Pete had a clean slate with the player selection. (except for Joey Martin, Ritchie and any player contracts already in place) Todd, Franny and the owners put forward players and ideas and Pete had to figure out what mix would work for his system and style of play. Cranny is a skilled player, and a great person. I am delighted he is back, but it would have been unfair to tell Pete who is on the roster. Pete liked him for our team, and we expect he will thrive under the style of play being put in place. I think some negative comments posted today will not age well.

 

[jenks33]

I’ll try and bite my tongue a bit on this one as I could write about 6 paragraphs on why I didn’t want Crandall back. Let’s just say that’s our first big mistake this summer in my opinion. I hope I’m spectacularly wrong but I’m very, very disappointed. The perfect example of rewarding mediocrity

 

[RedDevil17]

Let’s just say that’s our first big mistake this summer in my opinion. I hope I’m spectacularly wrong but I’m very, very disappointed. The perfect example of rewarding mediocrity

Clearly we don’t learn from our mistakes and it’s shown YET again.

 

[devils1990]

so no big signing winger for the first line then which i think we needed if we are to compete for silverware.the reliance on the martin line will be the same as last season if barrow doesn't work out on the first line.it seems a massive gamble putting a 2nd year pro on the top line who also missed some of the season through injury.crandall will do ok on the third line if thats what he's been signed for.

 

[Kristoff]

so no big signing winger for the first line then which i think we needed if we are to compete for silverware.the reliance on the martin line will be the same as last season if barrow doesn't work out on the first line.it seems a massive gamble putting a 2nd year pro on the top line who also missed some of the season through injury.crandall will do ok on the third line if thats what he's been signed for.

Along with Ully who missed most of last season also. We seem very light and biggest concern is team toughness with the rumoured return of Crawford,mosey and Chad Pietroniro,

 

[SteveKing]

A few quick thoughts on Crandall. First, the negative. He clearly was out of sorts for parts of last year. Was definitely not a lack of interest or care. The second and third lines were a big disappointment for a lot of reasons. Cranny can't be blameless in that but it would have been impossible for him to repeat his first year in that setup. Now for why he was brought back. He cares immensely. On the ice and off the ice, he is one of the leaders of our group. Even through the trying times last year, he was a positive, vocal leader and him and his wife went the extra mile to build the spirit of the group off the ice. He remains one of the most intelligent players in the league and is one of our best playmakers along with Coxy. Pete believes that he gives our lineup great versatility to play with different line setups. We clearly have the best number one line in the league with Marty's line all returning. The second and third line have a lot of different options depending on who's going and how chemistry develops. Barrow has shown that he can produce in a top six role, Crandall also has the skillset to do so. All part of building competitiion and having each of the lines being productive. Cranny definitely needs to bounce back to what we saw in year one but I'm all in behind Pete's decision to bring him back.

 

[lloyd_jeff]

Pete had a clean slate with the player selection. (except for Joey Martin, Ritchie and any player contracts already in place) Todd, Franny and the owners put forward players and ideas and Pete had to figure out what mix would work for his system and style of play. Cranny is a skilled player, and a great person. I am delighted he is back, but it would have been unfair to tell Pete who is on the roster. Pete liked him for our team, and we expect he will thrive under the style of play being put in place. I think some negative comments posted today will not age well.

More than happy to be wrong, I’ve nothing to prove though.

 

[Hockeymad]

A quick question for someone in the know.

If a player is on a 2 year contract and a new coach is employed after 1 season.

Do you have to pay the player some kind of compensation??

Do he have to come back??

 

[osh]

Pete had a clean slate with the player selection. (except for Joey Martin, Ritchie and any player contracts already in place) Todd, Franny and the owners put forward players and ideas and Pete had to figure out what mix would work for his system and style of play. Cranny is a skilled player, and a great person. I am delighted he is back, but it would have been unfair to tell Pete who is on the roster. Pete liked him for our team, and we expect he will thrive under the style of play being put in place. I think some negative comments posted today will not age well.

l
Like others, not impressed with this re signing no matter how you try to convince us. Your quote “ Cranny is a skilled player and a great person”. All well and good from your point of view, from my point of view as a fan for many years, he might be ‘a great person’, but that has sod all to do with his performances on the ice. Skilled ? undoubtedly so, yes, so why didn’t he show up last season ? Are you suggesting we give every “great person” a season to get over a poor previous season ? As you will see from those who have posted, I would say 90% are not impressed, though we hope we are proven wrong for sure. Give me a player like Rick Brebant every time - who maybe didn’t fit into the ‘great person’ category’ but gave 100% every game and did what was expected of him on the ice as a skilled player !

 

[E.D.S.]

Difficult to judge anyone from last years showing. You wouldn’t offer anyone a contract based on that. I said this numerous times last season that I was waiting for the real Crandall to come forward - the one from
Two seasons ago - if that guy is here next season then this is one hell of a signing and gives us real depth. If he isn’t, then it’s a massive gamble that didn’t pay off and interesting to know why Penny or Brittain (may be less so Britain) weren’t given the same courtesy. Hard to imagine that PR is behind this one. Would he know much about him? Have their paths crossed before?

What I do know is that Crandall from two years ago was unplayable and a class above. Last season, he looked disinterested. Things weren’t going his way but the effort wasn’t even there - that could and most likely was the management - but who really knows??

 

[kettdevil1]

A quick question for someone in the know.

If a player is on a 2 year contract and a new coach is employed after 1 season.

Do you have to pay the player some kind of compensation??

Do he have to come back??

The standard contracts have a release clause with notice either way (i.e. the player or the club could activate it), no idea if the Devils use the standard one but my guess is that it would be possible to release a player halfway through a contract if sufficient notice/compensation is provided.

Back on topic, big season for Crandall. He showed in season one he has the skills but I feel as though he needs a strong start to the season to silence the doubters.

Happy with the team so far, toughness is a question but until we have seen the team in action it is a question rather than a conclusion

 

[E.D.S.]

l
Like others, not impressed with this re signing no matter how you try to convince us. Your quote “ Cranny is a skilled player and a great person”. All well and good from your point of view, from my point of view as a fan for many years, he might be ‘a great person’, but that has sod all to do with his performances on the ice. Skilled ? undoubtedly so, yes, so why didn’t he show up last season ? Are you suggesting we give every “great person” a season to get over a poor previous season ? As you will see from those who have posted, I would say 90% are not impressed, though we hope we are proven wrong for sure. Give me a player like Rick Brebant every time - who maybe didn’t fit into the ‘great person’ category’ but gave 100% every game and did what was expected of him on the ice as a skilled player !

Oh my days! Brebant!! What a player!! One of the true greats. Yes please. I’ll take him and any player that vaguely resembles him.

 

[Diablo3]

When it comes down to it not all of us are going to love every player. For me a more important decision is whether we carry a spare. It adds competition, and we all know how much we suffered through injuries last year.

 

[jenks33]

@SteveKing @BrianParker I’ve got nothing but respect for you two and the new ownership is the best thing that has ever happened to this club, so I would hate for things to get too heated on here. After all it was Pete’s call not yours.
I suppose we’ll have to trust Pete on this one but personally I think it sends out all the wrong messages. As @Mooney#16 pointed out I think Crandall’s disappointing 36 points was the least of his problems. I thought he was a bit lazy defensively and I had issues with his effort levels in general. I thought he sulked when we needed the experienced players to stand up.
I will certainly be waiting until next April before I’m happy to put my hands up and say “I was wrong” because no doubt we’ll have tough spells throughout the season and on the evidence of last season, when the going gets tough, Crandall goes missing.

 

[lloyd_jeff]

A quick question for someone in the know.

If a player is on a 2 year contract and a new coach is employed after 1 season.

Do you have to pay the player some kind of compensation??

Do he have to come back??

Contracts are just pieces of paper that always always favour the person/organisation taking the financial risk.

 

[SteveKing]

@SteveKing @BrianParker I’ve got nothing but respect for you two and the new ownership is the best thing that has ever happened to this club, so I would hate for things to get too heated on here. After all it was Pete’s call not yours.
I suppose we’ll have to trust Pete on this one but personally I think it sends out all the wrong messages. As @Mooney#16 pointed out I think Crandall’s disappointing 36 points was the least of his problems. I thought he was a bit lazy defensively and I had issues with his effort levels in general. I thought he sulked when we needed the experienced players to stand up.
I will certainly be waiting until next April before I’m happy to put my hands up and say “I was wrong” because no doubt we’ll have tough spells throughout the season and on the evidence of last season when the going gets tough Crandall goes missing.

Jenks, I've got absolutely no problem with you or others debating or disagreeing with this signing or any others. That's the fun part about sports and the four of us have these exact same debates amongst ourselves. The role here for the four of us in Calgary is to give all of the support we can to the hockey staff and for them to make the calls. Pete watched a lot of film on all of our players and felt strongly that Cranny can help us. Great debate and we'll see how it plays out. What I do know is that I honestly believe we've got far more speed, youth, skill and scoring in our top nine than we did last year in addition to our wonderful fourth line.

 

[august04 2.0]

Not impressed at all, despite the defence from our owners. Crandall was shocking last year, but worse than that, he looked like he didn't care at all with effort levels to match. How he’s got another contract with us, I’ll never know. Mediocrity rules it would seem with this signing and another one in the last chance saloon for me. Absolutely deflated with this announcement. The only positive is that he can’t possibly be any worse than last year, can he?!

 

[Diablo3]

@SteveKing @BrianParker It's great that you take the time to engage on here, not many would. I think we have a real shout at some silverware, given the signings so far. The season can't come soon enough, which is something I think we can all agree on.

 

[SteveKing]

All good, Diablo. I'm just pleased that we've set the bar so high that our fans are now pissed off when we sign a guy that's been a point a game in the ECHL, Denmark and the Allsvenskan that could be playing on our third line!!! Roll on, hockey season!